Abstract
Emotion education is enjoying new-found popularity. This paper explores the ‘cosy consensus’ that seems to have developed in education circles, according to which approaches to emotion education are immune from metaethical considerations such as contrasting rationalist and sentimentalist views about the moral ontology of emotions. I spell out five common assumptions of recent approaches to emotion education and explore their potential compatibility with four paradigmatic moral ontologies. I argue that three of these ontologies fail to harmonise with the common assumptions. Either those three must therefore be rejected or, if we want to retain one or more of them (for instance, Jesse Prinz’s recent rebranding of hard sentimentalism that I explore in detail), we need to revise our assumptions about the practice of emotion education in ways that are both radical and, I argue, ultimately unacceptable.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aristotle. (1985). Nicomachean ethics, trans. T. Irwin. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.
Blasi, A. (1999). Emotions and moral motivation. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 29(1), 1–19.
Brady, M. S. (2008). Value and fitting emotions. Journal of Value Inquiry, 42(4), 465–475.
Cigman, R. (2008). Enhancing children. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42(3–4), 539–557.
Curzer, H. J. (2007). Aristotle, founder of the ethics of care. Journal of Value Inquiry, 41(2–4), 221–243.
D’Arms, J., & Jacobson, D. (2000a). Sentiment and value. Ethics, 110(4), 722–748.
D’Arms, J., & Jacobson, D. (2000b). The moralistic fallacy: On the ‘appropriateness’ of emotions. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 61(1), 65–90.
D’Arms, J., & Jacobson, D. (2006). Sensibility theory and projectivism. In D. Copp (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of ethical theory (pp. 186–218). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
De Sousa, R. (2001). Moral emotions. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 4(2), 109–126.
Goldie, P. (2008). Misleading emotions. In D. Künzle, G. Brun, & U. Doğuoğlu (Eds.), Epistemology and emotions (pp. 149–165). Aldershot: Ashgate.
Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.
Hume, D. (1978). A treatise of human nature. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Jones, K. (2006). Metaethics and emotions research: A response to Prinz. Philosophical Explorations, 9(1), 45–53.
Kristjánsson, K. (2002). Justifying emotions: Pride and jealousy. London: Routledge.
Kristjánsson, K. (2007). Aristotle, emotions, and education. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Kristjánsson, K. (2009a). Recent social-scientific work on interdependent, independent, and bicultural selves: The moral implications. American Philosophical Quarterly, 46(1), 73–92.
Kristjánsson, K. (2009b). Realist versus anti-realist moral selves—and the irrelevance of narrativism. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 39(2), 167–187.
Maxwell, B., & Reichenbach, R. (2007). Educating moral emotions: A praxiological analysis. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 26(2), 147–163.
McDowell, J. (1996). Deliberation and moral development in Aristotle’s ethics. In S. Engstrom & J. Whiting (Eds.), Aristotle, Kant, and the Stoics: Rethinking happiness and duty (pp. 19–35). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nichols, S. (2004). Sentimental rules: On the natural foundations of moral judgment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Prinz, J. J. (2007). The emotional construction of morals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pugmire, D. (2005). Sound sentiments: Integrity in the emotions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Railton, P. (2003). Facts, values, and norms: Essays toward a morality of consequences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rosati, C. S. (2006). Moral motivation. Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Retrieved June 10, 2009, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-motivation/.
Suissa, J. (2008). Lessons from a new science? On teaching happiness in schools. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42(3–4), 575–590.
Svavarsdóttir, S. (1999). Moral cognitivism and motivation. Philosophical Review, 108(2), 161–219.
Von Wright, G. H. (1963). Varieties of goodness. London: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kristjánsson, K. Emotion Education without Ontological Commitment?. Stud Philos Educ 29, 259–274 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-009-9165-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-009-9165-z